The Experiment
by BlacKTea
Summary: ON HIATUS The Rangers are caught up in something sinister. What if everything they had been led to believe was a elaborate lie.


A/N: Hey! I changed the first chapter. I tried to upload it yesterday, but I couldn't for some reason. anyways now I outlined this whole story so hopefully I'll be able to write it relatively quickly.

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"…and it looks as if we can expect another seven inches of rain by tomorrow. Back to you Wanda."

Kim groaned. Who was Wanda? Why did her voice have to be so high and chipper? Every word she spoken was like a nail to Kim's already throbbing head. Kim opened her eyes and was immediately assaulted by the light cast by the 11 O' clock news onto her face.

Kim closed her eyes, but the agony remained. Why did she hurt so much? No answer came to mind. Maybe she was hung over.

_But I don't drink._

Kim found this thought hilarious so she started to laugh. Pain racked her body as she dissolved into hysterical giggles. Finally realizing that the unbearable intensifying of the pain was related to her mirth Kim stopped laughing.

It wasn't all that funny anyway.

Kim silently wondered how she got to be on the floor.

She hadn't been drinking. She almost giggled at that, but restrained herself. Maybe she was dying.

_I hope so._

The pain was excruciating. Death would be a vacation, but death wouldn't come.

Tears bit at the corners of her eyes. She had freaking saved the world numerous times, but God wouldn't let her die. It wasn't fair.

She just wanted the pain to stop. Or at least to ease up a little bit. Kim thought longingly of the extra strength Tylenol in her medicine cabinet. Once again she had another reason to miss her roommate who had gone home after the Pan Globals. Kim wished she had. There was no reason for her to stay here. She hadn't placed. She hadn't even came close. Her performance had frankly sucked. Those who had hated her before sneered at her. Her friends avoided her, but when they did accidentally bump into to each other all they had to give her was pity.

That's why she hadn't gone home. She didn't want pity from her friends. Or disappointment from her mom. And then there was the whole letter thing.

Sometimes when she thought about it she'd wince. It wasn't that she didn't love Tommy it was just that she couldn't deal with anything else. Her life had become on big vacuum of pain and she didn't want him to have to deal with that. He would've tried to help her, but there'd have been nothing for him to do. That would have hurt him. She didn't want Tommy to be tied to a dying girlfriend. Anyway when she had seen him with Kat she realized that it was time to let him move on. He didn't need her. And she didn't really need him. She just needed the pain to stop.

With more strength than she realized she had she dragged herself up to her feet and made her way to her bathroom.

The tile felt cool on her toes and she shivered. The cabinet door let out a loud moan as she opened it. She only opened the door halfway since the squeaky hinge was killing her. It wasn't really all that loud. It was just a tiny squeak, but for some reason suddenly it sounded as if it was the hinge on 50 foot tall door. She didn't know exactly when this hyper sensitivity to sound had started, but she'd like it to stop. She didn't like hearing every noise no matter how tiny. Or lately smelling every smell. Of lately sometimes she'd just be overwhelmed by the smells around her.

Of course it was at that moment that she was assailed by the smells of the bathroom. A sickening mix of disinfectant and human waste. As quickly as she could she scrambled to the toilet and threw up. After she had thrown up what little she'd been able to eat for dinner her stomach still tried to heave whatever was making her so sick out, but to no avail.

Kim fell into a curled ball as violent stomach cramps tried to eat her from the inside. The cold tiles of the bathroom were icy against her forehead. She couldn't move. Finally her exhausted body dragged her down into slumber.

Kim closed her eyes thinking surely now she would die.

_Please._

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_Stars are pretty. Too bad a whole bunch assholes live around them_, Tommy thought wryly as he looked through his window to a cloudless starlit sky, a dry smile curving his lips. And he as a power ranger got to keep those jerks in line. He had to admit it was pretty cool being a super hero, but there were other things in life. After being a ranger Kim went to the Pan Globals with her gymnastics. Tommy gave a little smile in memory of his ex-girlfriend. It had hurt when she dumped him, but he was willing to forgive her if she ever decided to talk to him again. She hadn't talked to him since that tournament in April. And then before Kim left Jase, Zack and Trini had all gone to the peace conference in Geneva.

Tommy frowned. Jase hadn't stayed though. He'd come back home and then become the Gold Zeo Ranger. And then he'd nearly died using the alien powers. Tommy was worried about his friend. He liked being a ranger, but had feeling Jason loved being a ranger. It was cool being a superhero; it wasn't something that was fun to give up. That aside Jason seemed to be taking it real hard. They shared an apartment so they saw a lot of each other. Well Tommy saw a lot of Jason. Jason seemed to be in a perpetual daze. Sometimes he'd just lay on the couch for hours without saying a word. And since he hardly ate anymore he was losing weight.

Tommy didn't know what to think. He knew there was something wrong with his friend, but he didn't know what he could do. Jason didn't talk to him about it and he didn't seem to talk at all anymore. Tommy tired to remember the last time he'd said something besides 'hello' to him, or anyone for that matter, and came up short. Tommy gave his head a shake. He had to do something. His friend was in trouble. That much was obvious.

Tommy went to Jason bedroom and knocked lightly on the door.

A noise of what could have been assent came through the door. Although it sounded more like a pained groan.

Tommy opened the door a crack and said, "Jase? Bro can I talk to you?"

There was no response, but Tommy decided silence was a yes and stepped into the room closing the door behind him. He went over to inspect his friend and felt a wave of panic engulf him. Jason looked like he was dying. "Bro! Wake up! Are you okay?" he shouted in his alarm. Even though it was a dumb question. Obviously he wasn't okay.

Jason open his eyes to slits and glared at him. "God do you have to yell? First you pound on my door. Then you slam it. So much noise. My ears aren't bleeding are they?" Jason said in a voice that was rusty from disuse.

Tommy looked him worriedly. Yes he had yelled, but he had just barely tapped on the door and he had gently closed the door. He didn't understand why his friend was being so temperamental, but as Tommy examined him he started suspecting that that last question hadn't been sarcastic at all. He really wanted to known if his ears were bleeding.

"Uh, no."

Jason let out a soft noise that might have been a sigh of relief. "That happened once. My headache got so much worse."

Tommy blood chilled. Blood was coming out of his ears. Why hadn't he said anything.

Jason remained silent for a few moments before asking Tommy 'What's up?'. Like he hadn't just asked if his ears were bleeding.

"What's up? You've been lying in bed for days, weeks!" Jason winced at the decibel of his speech so he brought it down a little. "You don't eat. You don't do anything. Your wasting away! That's what's up."

"I'm fine. I just need some Tylenol for my headache and I'll be as good as new," Jason said as he tried to dredge up a smile.

Tommy's eyes widened in disbelief. Jason actually sounded fine. If hadn't been looking at him he would have believed him.

"Jase, what's wrong with you? Don't try and tell me it's just a headache. You wouldn't be wasting away if you just had a headache.

Jason stopped trying to look okay and sighed wearily. "Tommy I'm fine really. Just get me some Tylenol or Aspirin. Something! My head is killing me."

Tommy wanted to know what was wrong, but knew that he wasn't going to find out just yet. Jason was stubborn. If he said he was fine he was fine. At least until he could no longer hold up the act. Not that he was holding it up all that well now.

Tommy retrieved two extra strength Tylenol from the bathroom that they shared. Before he cold hand Jason the glass of water he'd also gotten, Jason had swallowed the two tablets dry.

"Jase are you sure you're alright?"

"Positive."

Tommy sighed. "Just promise me if your ears do start bleeding you'll tell me."

Jason face took on a reluctant cast, but he nodded his head in acquiesce.

"Okay. I guess I'm leaving, but if you need help…"

Jason wasn't even listening to him anymore. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. His was simply waiting for him to leave.

Tommy sighed again and left. He'd find a way to help his friend later. Whether he wanted help or not.

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Dimitiria sat down at a console and used it to contact Zordon. The face that appeared on the view screen was not the one the rangers would recognize. It wasn't even one Dimitria recognized, but she knew she had the right person.

"Hello Zordon. What is that on your face?"

"Hello Dimitria. It's a mustache. I couldn't resist." Zordon now appeared to be a forty something man with a rather large mustache.

Dimitria wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well I think you should have tried harder to resist. Really."

Zordon completely ignored her comment. "How are the rangers?"

"They're fine. They are keeping that Divatox bitch where she belongs. Away."

Zordon nodded. "And the experiment? I trust it is going well?"

Dimitria nodded. "Yes that is going just fine. All of them are quite sick. Cestria says Billy is not faring too well either."

Zordon nodded again. "We are going to be so rich!" he said with undisguised greed. He voice a far cry from the booming fatherly one he used with the rangers.

"If this works," Dimitria reminded him.

"It's going to work. Everyone else is trying to develop psychic shields to block out the elathon radiation which doesn't even make sense. It's most harmful to psychics. Obviously the only way to go is to make it so there is no need for shields. Hence what I've done."

"Yes what you did was brilliant," she admitted grudgingly. "Changing, on a molecular level, brains capable of sentient thought so that they thrive instead malfunction in face of elathon radiation. The only problem is they go crazy everywhere else."

Zordon smiled. "How is that a problem? They stay where we want them to stay, doing what we want them to do. They won't be able to leave. All of that euthriel will be mine!"

Dimitria cleared her throat. "And mine and the rest of our partners."

Zordon laughed. "Of course. Anyway even divided five ways we're all going to richer than God."

Dimitria had to agree with that. After all there was no jewel quite like euthriel.

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Divatox was brooding. Her plan to capture and control some of Zordon projects had failed. Whatever Zordon was doing to his guinea pigs, or monkeys rather, it was something radically different than what everyone else was attempting. They could be controlled they same way though.

Divatox laughed. It was quite funny how Zordon had convinced the rangers that every time they were controlled by the opposing team that they were in fact turned 'evil.' It was curious that he managed to control them without the use of mind control. They really thought they were saving Earth from invasion when really it was just an elaborate hoax. Like anyone wanted a piece of real estate out in this Godforsaken galaxy. There wasn't a decent world a billion light years in any direction. Probably for security reasons.

_Although if Zordon is successful at Walgeria then I guess the Earth will be invaded and processed._

Divatox frowned. It was going to be hard to retrieve even one of the original rangers to see exactly what Zordon had done to them with the other Power Rangers saving the day. When she had had Jason and Kim in her bilge she had taken readings from them, but no one had been able to decipher them. Or had discovered why their dip in the 'volcano' had made them super strong. The plan had been to have two super weak hostages under their control. Or to at least see it Zordon had made a shield that worked. Instead they had come out super strong. An unexpected event which she had improvised beautifully with. Maligore had just sent her message thanking her for the fun. Everyone who was trying to steal Zordon's projects knew the game he was playing with his 'Power Rangers' and perhaps it would do more for their cause if they were to inform the would be heroes of their true predicament. The old conquer and divide, but it was just too funny. All those times when they claimed victory when really all they had done was 'defeat' a whole bunch actors who didn't want to hurt them too bad. No one wanted damaged goods. And that probably the real reason everyone played Zordon's game. If they didn't they would run the risk of damaging what they were after. Although sometimes Zordon's game grew tedious. He seemed to be getting a little too into it.

But it didn't make sense. Why would Zordon made it so elathon radiation strengthened them? How? It was poisonous to every type of sentient being. It made them go insane. Animals didn't seem to be affected by it, but the most well trained animal still couldn't extract euthriel from the rock known as elathon, hence the need for The Challenge. It made no sense.

Whatever Zordon was doing it was very clever and she intended to benefit from that.


End file.
